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MacDonald, Wood Win Titles In First Day of Pac-10 Track and Field Championships

BERKELEY, Calif. - Senior Kelly MacDonald captured the women's 3000m steeplechase crown and junior David Wood won the men's shot put title, leading the Arizona State track and field squad in the first day of competition of the Pac-10 Championships hosted by the University of California-Berkeley at Edwards Stadium Saturday.

In its inaugural season as a Pac-10 and NCAA event, MacDonald etched her name in the conference record books, becoming the first champion in the women's steeplechase. MacDonald won the race breaking her previous school record and personal-best with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 10:03.20. This is MacDonald's second Pac-10 title after winning the women's 5000m last season.

'It was good,' MacDonald said of her winning performance. 'It was weird because I didn't hear any splits so I didn't really have any concept of how fast I was running. I just tried to keep my composure and keep it honest.'

ASU dominated the women's 3000m steeplechase, as sophomores Lisa Aguilera and Cody Sohn placed third and fifth, respectively. Aguilera finished the race with an NCAA automatic qualifying time but not a season-best, 10:17.66. Sohn turned in a NCAA provisional qualifying and personal-best of 10:27.83.

Wood captured his first Pac-10 title, winning the men's shot put with a personal best mark of 62 feet, 6.50 inches. He becomes the first ASU male to win a conference shot put title since Shane Collins did so in 1992.

In the men's 3000m steeplechase final, sophomore Jeremy Rasmussen fell short of defending his Pac-10 title, placing second in a season-best 8:51.57, despite falling on the last barrier.

'I'm a little disappointed, obviously,' Rasmussen said. 'I fell on the last barrier. Other than that, though, I thought I ran a pretty good race. I tried to pull it out at the end, but I couldn't eke it out.'

In the men's 10,000m final, sophomore Fasil Bizuneh placed second with a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 29:37.25.

An additional highlight for ASU was the performance of Marcus Brunson in the 100m and 200m races. Brunson broke his own school record in the 100m with a personal best and NCAA automatic qualifying time of 10.06, the second-fastest time clocked in the nation this year. Brunson has the highest prelim times going into tomorrow's 100m and 200m finals.